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Monday, November 4, 2013

So excited! Was approached by a lampworking friend, Wendy Mosman, about sharing a studio/gallery space w/ one of her lampworking friends, Krista Stensrud. Krista has had this space in the Northrup King Building for 7 years, has been in the building for 12... but works full time & is rarely there except for the big events the building puts on. She thought about giving it up, but decided to call Wendy to see if she was interested in sharing it. Wendy asked her if she was open to one other person & then gave me a call. It's in the NorthEast Minneapolis area, which is know for it's artists' spaces.

So, in the Spring, the northeast Minneapolis area puts on a huge open studio event, Art-a-Whirl which is hugely attended, ESPECIALLY @ this building. (I've heard something like 20,000 people attend every year) 200+ artists in this building. In the fall (1st weekend in November), the building puts on a 3-day open studio event, Art Attack... we went to check it out.... so busy, no parking, tons of people! They also do 1st Thursdays throughout the year & Holiday Saturdays for the 3 weekends in December leading up to Christmas.

Wendy & I checked out the studio a couple weeks ago & it's awesome. She has a ventilated 2-person torching space, a few storage cabinets/display surfaces as well as a wonderful gallery space w/ plenty of wall display surface & a fun table for displaying on.

Neither Wendy nor myself can see us actually working there much since we both have our own home studios (it's about 27 miles for me), but to have the space available for these well publicized events as well as our own private events, customer appointments, etc is so appealing. I can even do some one-on-one teaching there! I can even host our local lampworking chapter meetings there every so often... do demos, etc.

Only negative... Art-a-Whirl happens the same weekend as the Missouri Bead Retreat :o( ....so, I'll be missing out on the retreat from now on. Heartbreaking.

I'm doing a show the first weekend in December... but I'm planning on doing the Holiday Saturdays the next 2 weekends w/ whatever stock I have left from the show. I have a local customer who was thinking about having a home party around the holidays, but w/ my class & shows, timing was bad. I'll talk to her about coming up & inviting her friends along. Have another friend/customer who has done home shows for me in the past, will have to talk to her, too. Snacks, wine, etc...

Anyway... I'm excited! It was just too appealing to pass up.

Here's a picture of Krista, Wendy & myself (R-L) in the gallery space....